On October 11, 2016, five brave climate organizers successfully closed the manual, emergency valves of five pipelines carrying oil from the Canadian tar sands into the northern United States [1, 2]. Their unprecedented acts of nonviolent direct action to avert climate cataclysm shut down 15 percent of U.S. crude oil imports for nearly a day.

“Calling on President Obama to use emergency powers to keep the pipelines closed and to mobilize for the extraordinary shift away from fossil fuels now required to avert catastrophe,” the activists staged their actions in support of the International Days of Prayer and Action for Standing Rock. Police removed and arrested all five activists, supporters Carl Davis, Reed Ingalls, and Sam Jessup, and independent documentary filmmakers Lindsay Grayzel and Deia Schlosberg. These ‘valve turners’ face prosecution on felony charges with sentences of up to 95 years in prison [3].

Emily Johnston: “For years, we’ve tried the legal, incremental, reasonable methods, and they haven’t been anything like enough. Without a radical shift in our relationship with this Earth, all that we love will disappear. My fear of that possibility is far greater than my fear of jail.”

Annette Klapstein: “Like mothers everywhere, I act from a deep love for my children, which extends out to all children and young people and all living beings on this planet.”

Michael Foster: “I am here to generate action that wakes people up to the reality of what we are doing to life as we know it. All of our climate victories are meaningless if we don’t stop extracting oil, coal, and gas now.”